Search for new president continues

The Slippery Rock University Presidential Search Committee is in the process of finding the next president of the university.

President Robert Smith, who has held the title since 2004, intends to retire from the position in January 2012.

The committee is composed of 15 members representing university executives, faculty, alumni, students and non-instructional staff. Representatives were chosen by their respective unions.

Two consultants, Charles Bunting and Vicki Henderson, are also assisting the committee.

Bunting served 15 years as chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges and is a member on the board of trustees of Hampton University, located in Hampton, Va.

"We have reps from all corners of the campus," Eric Holmes, who serves as chairperson of the search committee, said. "It's a diverse committee in race, ethnicity, gender and age, and everyone is committed to finding the best president possible."

Holmes, who is on the university's Council of Trustees, served on the search committee that hired President Smith nearly a decade ago.

While the committee has been intact since June, the search for the new president is still in the early stages of the process.

"We're still in the process of receiving applications and resumes," Holmes said.

Although still in the early stages of the search, Holmes believes the committee in place will be successful in finding highly qualified candidates.

"We're moving forward," Holmes said. "President Smith has done a phenomenal job and we're looking for someone to continue that."

An advertisement for the position is currently running in The Chronicle of Higher Education, a popular and highly respected publication focused on news, information and jobs for college and university faculty members and administrators.

"We spent a fair amount of time developing a profile for the university so candidates can learn about it," Dr. Bradley Wilson, a professor of philosophy and one of the two faculty representatives on the search committee, said. "At this point, the job is advertised, basically allowing people to learn about it."

Review of the resumes is expected to begin in October once a large pool of candidates is collected.

"We'll evaluate all of them collectively to make comparisons," Wilson said. "My understanding is that we'll have a very good pool. Our university has a lot that would be appealing to a candidate."

With a strong pool of candidates, the committee looks to find very qualified individuals who possess a certain set of skills and abilities. Numerous specific qualifications are listed on the official job posting, but Wilson outlined a more general outlook on what the committee is seeking.

"One of the key things we want is someone very student-oriented, which isn't surprising because SRU is very student-oriented," Wilson said. "We want someone open in dealings with faculty and staff, and also someone who can work well with the state legislature, who supplies a lot of the school's funding."

The tentative schedule of the committee would have the pool being narrowed down by mid-November, with off-campus interviews with semi-finalists beginning in early December.

Finally, public interviews of 3-5 candidates are planned to take place on campus in early February.

The committee hopes to finish their search by the scheduled Board of Governors meeting scheduled for next March, in which the committee and the Council of Trustees will ultimately recommend the best candidates to the chancellor and the Board of Governors.

While the ultimate decision of the next president will not be made directly by the search committee itself, Wilson is grateful to be a part of the process.

"I feel like I represent the views of the faculty very well," Wilson said. "It was an honor to be elected as a representative."